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Aren Maeir on the 35th Annual Archaeological Conference

Today the 35th Annual Archaeological Conference was held in Jerusalem, and fortunately for us, Aren Maeir was there and has commented on some of the interesting presentations that were given.

You can read his blog for the full report, but here are the three of most interest to this blog author:

1) Haggai Misgav spoke about the Kh. Qeiyafa inscription, which still is for the most part undeciphered, but he showed some good slides of the 5 lines, 50 letters, and showed nicely the reading of, e.g., eved (slave), melek (king), al t’as (don’t do in biblical hebrew), etc. Inter alia, the so-called “Goliath inscription” from Tell es-Safi/Gath was mentioned….
4) Erez Ben-Yosef et al, who discussed some interesting results of Tom Levi’s project in the Edom lowlands, including details on some new sites at which there is evidence for early Iron Age and Iron IIA smelting activities.
5) Norma Franklin who discussed the so-called “Proto-Aeolic capitals” of the Iron Age, claiming, very logically, that none of them were actually capitals!”

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Shephelah

James Ossuary Trial Drags On

Matthew Kalman, writing for the Jerusalem Post:

One of Israel’s best-known antiquities dealers said this week he was the innocent victim of a “witch-hunt” initiated by the Antiquities Authority aimed at destroying his career and reputation.
Robert Deutsch, 58, has been on trial at the Jerusalem District Court since September 2005 on six charges of faking and selling priceless antiquities. He is the owner of the Archeological Center, with shops in Tel Aviv and Jaffa, and runs twice-yearly antiquities auctions that attract the world’s top collectors of ancient Judaica.
Deutsch’s co-defendant, leading antiquities collector Oded Golan, is charged with faking the burial box of Jesus’s brother and an inscribed stone attributed to King Jehoash that once adorned the First Temple, plus dozens of smaller items.
As Deutsch took the stand this week for the first time after more than three years in court, 120 witnesses and 8,000 pages of testimony, he said the charges against him were “lies and hallucinations.”

The story continues here, and the author does a good job of presenting both sides of the story.

Kalman has a blog dedicated to the trial.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Forgery

New Items in the BiblePlaces.com Store

A rush shipment of a series of fantastic new products has just arrived at the BiblePlaces.com International Distribution Center. All of these items are available for immediate shipment.

Bag of Rocks: Authentic specimens from a hill in Israel. You can plant these in your garden, and before you know it, your garden will be full of them.

Basket of Authentic Potsherds: Unwashed, unsorted. May include EB through Ottoman period artifacts. Your basket might contain an ostracon!

Biblical Archaeologist Swimsuit Calendar: Featuring 12 of the world’s most renowned excavators on exotic tells that they dig.

Packet of Mud: Wet soil possibly washed off by the blind man at the Pool of Siloam.

Ossuary: Inscriptions of famous biblical people added for an extra charge.

Private Lecture: A dramatic presentation for you and your friends by Charles Gadda on the true origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls and expert techniques on how to convince the world that you’re right.

“I Deny” T-Shirts: You fill-in-the-blank. Popular options include: the existence of the Jews in the Holy Land before 1948, David and Solomon, maximalism, minimalism, antiquities sales, the James Ossuary, Bible thumpers, Q, Ai, the “BAR crowd”, biblioblogs.

Archaeologist Trading Cards: Watch the value of these go up when one of their discoveries is sensationalized.

Tour Pass: Good for a one-day tour of the archaeological sites of the Gaza Strip, personally hosted by Khaled Mashaal and his friends.

The Truth About Archaeology DVD: Dozens of volunteers explain the realities of excavation, including stories of grime, sunstroke, hospitalization, and slavery-like conditions that they paid for.

Fibers from the rope around the high priest’s ankle.

Ashes from the destroyed city of Sodom. Well-preserved. From the Sodom of your choice.

Television Special, 60 Minutes (DVD): Breaking report that reveals how a Jewish temple never existed in Jerusalem. Features extensive research and interviews with ~~two~~ three smart locals.

Postcards of Jerusalem: Only one dollah. The top one looks nice.

Payment may be made in darics, denarii, drachmas, or dileptons. All orders must be received not
later than 11:59 p.m., April 1st.

Tagged April Fool's Joke

PBS Special: Jerusalem: Center of the World

The 2-hour movie narrates the history of the city. Beginning at 9pm Eastern/Pacific, the documentary is narrated by Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. Susan Wunderink of Christianity Today reviews the film:

The film starts with Abraham leaving Ur at a time when Jerusalem was already settled by Canaanite tribes. The documentary embellishes biblical history, adding in traditions that say, for example, that Jerusalem is also where God created Adam. Suarez goes into the details of the destruction and rebuildings of the Jewish Temple. Jesus’ short life is given about 15 minutes of the two-hour run time. For viewers who know what happens up to 70 A.D.—and then nothing—it will fill in some big gaps. The second half of the film explains how the city came to look as it does today, if you can keep up. Toward the end, the pace picks up as Suarez lists how “the world’s most contested piece of real estate” changes hands among multiple Christian and Muslim rulers. Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others fought, came, and went, sometimes leaving Jerusalem little more than a tourist trap. Mark Twain found it an unappealing, sleepy place when he visited. The Romans, after nearly wiping out the Jewish population, expelled the rest; Saladin’s Muslims let them re-settle.

The full review is here. The producer’s website includes a trailer.

Tagged Jerusalem, Resources, Temple Mount

Western Wall Prayer Notes Removed

From Arutz-7:

The ancient crevices of the Western Wall, filled with prayer notes tearfully tucked inside by tens of thousands of worshippers during the course of the year, underwent their twice-yearly cleaning-out on Sunday, under the watchful eye of the Rabbi of the Holy Sites, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich.
The notes are emptied out of the Wall just before Passover and just before Rosh HaShanah. The purpose is to make room so that people can “insert their prayer notes at the Wall without fear that the notes will fall out and be trampled upon,” Rabbi Rabinovich explained.
The notes, many of which contain the full names of family members, as well as requests for health, sustenance, a spouse, solutions for personal problems, and more, are treated with great respect by the workers. The workers even immerse themselves in a mikveh (ritual bath) before beginning the holy work of removing the notes.
The notes are removed without the use of metal bars or utensils – which stand for warfare and the taking of life (see Exodus 20,22) – but rather with wooden rods. Following their removal, the notes are taken to the nearby ancient Mt. of Olives cemetery for burial.

Removing prayer notes from Western Wall

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Spectacular Mosaic Floor on Display in Negev

From the press release of the Israel Antiquities Authority (with link to photos, and direct link to photos):

One of the Most Spectacular Mosaic Floors Ever Discovered in Israel was Restored and Renovated and Can Now be Seen by the General Public (30/3/09)
The 1,500 year old (!) mosaic is in the ancient synagogue at Ma‘on-Nirim The mosaic, which is decorated with a seven-branched candelabrum and images of different animals, was conserved and returned to its original location. The site is now open to the general public and admission to it is free.
The site of the mosaic floor, which is part of a synagogue from the Byzantine period (fifth and sixth centuries CE), is located in the settlement of Ma‘on-Nirim, in the western Negev, and will be open to the public this week. This mosaic originally measured 3.70 x 7.80 m but was damaged when the road to Kibbutz Nir Oz was paved in 1957. The mosaic floor and the remains of the synagogue were discovered during salvage excavations that were undertaken on behalf of the Department of Antiquities in 1957. The mosaic’s state of preservation has deteriorated in recent years as a result of the unsuitable conditions in which the mosaic was kept and a lack of maintenance. Therefore, in 2006, it was removed from the site and transferred for treatment to the Conservation Laboratories in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem….
According to the archaeological findings the northern wall of the synagogue’s sanctuary was breached in the middle of the sixth century CE and an apse, which is a circular niche that protrudes outward, was installed in the opening. The level of the earlier floor was raised and a breathtakingly beautiful mosaic floor surrounded by marble columns was constructed on top of it in the northern part of the sanctuary. The synagogue had a basilica plan in which there was a nave with a mosaic floor that was flanked by two aisles paved with stone tiles. The ceiling was built of wooden beams and clay. The decoration on the mosaic floor consists of a vine tendril that stems from an amphora to form a trellis of medallions that are adorned with scenes of everyday life from the vineyard and from wine production and with different animals. The images portrayed in the upper rows include a seven-branched candelabrum that stands on three legs shaped like lion’s feet, and near them etrogim, a shofar and a lulav, and alongside the candelabrum – palm trees and lions, which are symbols of Judah. An Aramaic inscription is incorporated in the mosaic. The upper part of the inscription blesses all of the community followed by a dedication to three individuals who donated generous contributions.

The complete press release is here.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged New Exhibits, Tourism